The It List

Meet the 2013 It List

By M.R. Brown, Gabriel Diego Delgado, Kathleen Petty and Chris Warren

Photography By JoJo Marion, Illustrations By Kyle Hilton

In one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, it's not hard to find innovators. We looked to the people building buzz and leading the Alamo City in 10 different categories. Some make headlines on a regular basis, while others toil away humbly, avoiding the spotlight. They are by no means the best or the only locals creating change, but they’re indelibly leaving their mark on this town. Meet the 2013 It List.

Community

Darryl Byrd

Future ShaperIt’s really easy to predict the future. That is, of course, if your wild guesses have no real impact on people’s actual lives. Envisioning and creating a better future is an altogether different matter. And that’s just the task SA2020 President and CEO Darryl Byrd has before him. Launched in 2010 by Mayor Julián Castro, SA2020 was simultaneously an acknowledgement that the city would change drastically over the next decade—thanks largely to a rapidly increasing population—and a directive to shape changes in everything from arts and culture to community safety to downtown development and economic competitiveness.

If meeting a wide range of goals in everything from employment rates to diabetes-related deaths sounds like a big job for the head of a nonprofit with a small staff, well, it is. Byrd says he has plenty of help. “I am most excited and energized by the fact that SA2020 is the product of thousands of San Antonians creating a bold shared vision for the future of their city and, more importantly, taking ownership of bringing that vision into reality,” he says. But don’t tell Byrd individuals are getting involved; he says they’re making an investment. “It’s a more powerful action word. When someone sees himself or herself as an investor, they expect a return. San Antonians now expect real returns from their community engagement,” he says.

Byrd has some pretty direct experience reimagining San Antonio. His last job was CEO and managing director for Pearl Brewery LLC, where he oversaw the transformation of the old brewery into one of the city’s premier cultural and culinary hubs. Not bad training.

Robert Labrutta

Commander
With thousands of current personnel and military retirees calling the area home, San Antonio comes by its Military City, USA label honestly. And, as of May, the man at the top of the leadership chain for that community is Brig. Gen. Robert Labrutta. He is the commander of the 502nd Air Base Wing and Joint Base San Antonio—which includes Lackland and Randolph Air Force Bases, Camp Bullis and Fort Sam Houston. Together they form the largest joint base within the Department of Defense. Labrutta is a central decision maker and voice in the region on topics ranging from the economy to education to health and training. He returns to SA after starting his career as a basic trainee at Lackland in the 1980s.

Robert Rivard

Storyteller
Many San Antonians are finding their daily dose of local news from The Rivard Report, an online independent news venture created by Robert Rivard in 2012. His dedication to telling stories of the community is a call to action: “We hope to be a catalyst for urban transformation and progressive economic and cultural development.”

James Lifshutz

Preservationist
The site of the San Antonio State Hospital, built in 1892, would later become a turn of the century resort known as Hot Wells Hotel and Spa. Now in ruins, the natural hot sulfur destination is set to rise again under James Lifshutz, a man who is no stranger to resurrecting historical landmarks. If this venture is anything like his previous work on The Cadillac Lofts or Blue Star, it is sure to be transformative.

Susan Hughes

Environmentalist, gardener
Susan Hughes’ conservation résumé reads like a who’s-who of Texas wildlife and community programs. She’s served on multiple committees and boards to protect natural resources and wildlife, including the South Texas Farm and Range Forum, of which she was a founder, and the Edwards Aquifer Authority Board, where she is vice chair. As executive director of Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas, she works to create a network of community gardens and to conserve open spaces in rural and urban areas.

Business

Francis Wearden

Advertising Ace
One of Francis Wearden’s first jobs was in his father’s translation company, which focused on aiding Mexican businesses that wanted to expand into the U.S. It was a natural job for Wearden, whose American father moved to Puebla, Mexico, to marry a local and stayed to open the first English-as-a-foreign-language lab in the country. These days, Wearden does translation of a different sort, helping companies like Whataburger and Coca-Cola reach the increasingly important Hispanic market.

Wearden uses his extensive cross-cultural experience—he traveled back and forth across the border as a kid and half of his extended family spoke no English while the other half spoke no Spanish—to help the clients of his FPO Marketing Agency deliver messages that resonate. “The best definition I’ve heard about marketing is that the brand is a story, but it’s a story about you, not a story about the brand,” says Wearden, who launched FPO in 2003. In other words, effective marketing campaigns targeting Hispanics have to speak their language, both literally and figuratively.

For instance, FPO was brought in to collaborate with Dove’s general marketing agency as it worked to introduce Dove Body Wash to Hispanic women. While ads in the U.S. concentrated on the idea that women of all shapes and sizes are beautiful, research showed the concept of beauty was different among many Hispanic consumers. “For Latinas, real beauty is something internal, it’s how you behave, what you do, how you feel and how those things shine through to the outside,” he says. So instead of focusing purely on the physical, Wearden and his colleagues built a campaign around a spokeswoman named Giselle Blondet, known as the Hispanic Katie Couric. “She resembled the brand in her optimism and in the fact that she encouraged women to make the most out of life,” he says.

Josue Robles

Military advocate
Josue Robles took the reins as president and CEO of financial services behemoth USAA in 2007, serving the financial needs of military families at one of the only fully integrated financial services organizations in America. Fast forward six years and Robles—who was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, drafted as a private during the Vietnam era and retired as a major general in 1994 after serving 28 years in the U.S. Army—has helped the company rack up an enviable record. The city’s second largest private-sector employer, USAA has consistently received outstanding awards and ratings for member service, employee well-being and financial strength. And, Robles has found another way to serve military veterans: by hiring and training them. He was honored at the White House earlier this year for USAA’s commitment toward incorporating veterans in the workplace.

Graham Weston

Top Racker
No single person is responsible for San Antonio’s quick and continuing emergence as a technology hub, but it would be hard to imagine it all happening without Graham Weston, whom we featured as one of last October’s “Men of the Year.” The inveterate entrepreneur—he launched his first venture in seventh grade—was a co-founder of open cloud giant Rackspace, where he now serves as chairman. Weston is also actively supporting the city’s tech scene and entrepreneurs hoping to follow his lead with the downtown business incubator Geekdom and is a major supporter of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.

Alan Baxter and Tim Maloney

Economic Developers
After a fraud and embezzlement scandal a couple of years ago, it would be understandable if the city of Windcrest was struggling to rebuild its reputation. But it’s not. Thanks in large part to the leadership of Mayor Alan Baxter and Tim Maloney, the executive director of the Windcrest Economic Development Corporation, the city is earning a reputation as one of the most business-friendly locales in Texas. Looking to build on its success as the corporate headquarters for Rackspace, Windcrest actively helps businesses cut through red tape and provides matching grants for small business improvements. The city has even made it a goal to completely eliminate residential property taxes, which would be a first for Texas.

Education

Kathy Bruck

Pre-k Leader
She’s worked 15-hour days and weekends since April, but Kathy Bruck doesn’t let it show. At the start of the second week of Pre-K 4 SA classes, the CEO of the city’s early childhood education program sounds as excited and energetic as the 4-year-olds in the classrooms.

After a 37-year career with Harlandale ISD that including teaching, early childhood and special education supervision, principalship and administration, ending with 12 years as executive director for curriculum and instruction, Bruck says it was hard to leave the district—but the offer from city manager Sheryl Sculley to serve as interim CEO for Pre-K 4 SA was just too great to pass up. “I said, ‘Wow. That’s exactly what my passion is,’” Bruck recalls. “It was just like a dream. I jumped on board.”

After voters approved a 1/8-cent tax increase to fund the prekindergarten program, a signature initiative of Julián Castro’s mayoral tenure, preparations were fast-tracked for two centers to open this fall (two more are slated to open with the 2014-15 school year). Besides the logistics of preparing the centers, developing curriculum and overseeing enrollment, Bruck spent a lot of time crafting the right team of teachers and directors. More than 500 people applied for the 44 teaching positions, which include several academic coaches, a model that proved successful in Harlandale. Bruck says they looked especially for educators willing to try something new.

Bruck is keenly aware the work has just started and many eyes are on the program. “There’s a little bit of [pressure]. I know how important it is to the mayor,” she says. “All I can do is work hard, work collaboratively and take advice. I’m not afraid of criticism. I think it’s healthy, as long as it’s done in a positive way.”

Joey Lopez

New Media Master
In the University of Incarnate Word’s Convergent Media Program, Northwest Side native Joey Lopez teaches students skills in the digital mediums that have become imperative in nearly every industry: social media, new media narrative, web design and others. Lopez approaches his courses with a unique hands-on, tailored teaching style that puts power and responsibility for personal growth in the students’ hands and gives students a chance to develop media strategies for large organizations such as Bexar County Bibliotech, Cox Media and the San Antonio Food Bank.

Gregory White

Cyber Security King
As the director of the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security and an associate professor in computer sciences, UTSA’s Gregory White may be the most important man in the city when it comes to the future of cyber security, a booming industry in the local economy. The Education Leadership Award winner also served in the U.S. Air Force in cryptology and computer science capacities.

Marco Cervantes

The Hip-Hop Professor
An assistant professor in UTSA’s Mexican American Studies Program, which is part of the Department of Bicultural and Bilingual Studies, Marco Cervantes is much more than your average teacher. His passion for racial harmony bleeds through into his culturally aware hip-hop endeavors as a member of Third Root and his solo project, Mexican Stepgrandfather. “Both my roles as academic and artist are in constant dialogue, informing each other and often overlapping,” he says. “This is rewarding and has allowed me to approach education in some new and interesting ways.”

David Robinson

NBA Legend, Student Inspiration
This Spurs legend traded in his basketball for pencils and founded Carver Academy 12 years ago, a kindergarten through sixth grade Christian private school. The two-time NBA champion’s school partnered with IDEA Public Schools to turn Carver into a charter school in 2012, and David Robinson continues to offer inspiration for students: in 2011, he earned a master’s degree from University of Incarnate Word.

Sports

Russ Bookbinder

Sports Exec
Since arriving in San Antonio in 1987 to become executive vice president of business operations for the Spurs, Russ Bookbinder has seemingly had his hands in everything involving a ball, bat or puck going on in the city. Indeed, besides his work with the Spurs—where he retired in 2008—Bookbinder helped launch the Alamo Bowl, was active in SA’s hosting of the U.S. Olympic Festival, served on the board of the San Antonio Sports Foundation for 20 years and ran the business and basketball operations for the WNBA’s Silver Stars.

These days, Bookbinder spends his time trying to bring the tangible benefits of sports to as many people around the city as possible. As president and CEO of the nonprofit San Antonio Sports, Bookbinder and his 16-member staff try to expand opportunities and locations where kids can play. “One thing we know we lack is parks,” he says. To rectify that, Bookbinder’s group is heavily involved with the SPARK parks program, which helps turn public elementary and middle school property into neighborhood parks that are open even when school is not in session. Additionally, Bookbinder is enthusiastic about the nonprofit’s “i play!” after school program, which provides kids from 30-area schools instruction in sports, nutrition and character education.

He is also working hard to bring major sporting events to San Antonio. In some ways, it’s an easy sell. “We have the climate, culture and fun. This is a destination city,” he says. Although it’s true attracting more high-profile events helps raise the profile of San Antonio, Bookbinder’s pitch about the wisdom of doing so comes down to dollars and cents. Since 1991, San Antonio Sports-hosted events alone have generated an estimated $446 million in economic impact.

Kawhi Leonard

NBA Hotshot
True, everyone in San Antonio was distraught to see the Spurs’ heroic playoff run come up so achingly short. But if you’re looking for a silver lining, just ponder the amazing future Kawhi Leonard surely has. The soft-spoken Leonard averaged nine rebounds and 13.5 points per game throughout the playoffs. The usually reticent Leonard made a little news this summer when he declared (in a quiet and polite manner, mind you) that he wants to be an NBA superstar. We hope so, too, Kawhi.

Mike Carter

Volleyball Pro
When Mike Carter first started coaching volleyball at Randolph High 24 years ago the sport was little known in SA. There were just two volleyball clubs; today there are more than 40, many of them churning out players who receive college scholarships. Much of the credit for this explosion of popularity can be credited to Carter, who spent the past 14 years at Reagan High and is now club director for the Alamo Volleyball Association. Not bad for a guy who had never even seen a high school volleyball game before he was hired as Randolph’s head coach.

Larry Kennan

Coaching Legend
When the talent on the football field at the University of the Incarnate Word begins to rival what’s on the sidelines, their opponents better watch out. Head football coach Larry Kennan, who was hired in 2011, brings an astonishing depth of experience, having spent 16 years as an NFL coach and the past 13 as executive director of the NFL Coaches Association. Kennan will likely need his reservoir of football smarts as he (and new hire assistant coach Ricky Williams, a UT grad and Heisman Trophy winner) leads his team into Division I’s Southland Conference.

Lynn Hickey

Athletic Visionary
What a difference two years makes. Before 2011, the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners had never fielded a football team, a sporting omission as large as the state of Texas itself. But thanks to the tireless work of longtime athletic director Lynn Hickey, the Roadrunners have more than just a team. This year UTSA is competing in its first season in Conference USA and held its own in its home opener against perennial powerhouse Oklahoma State at the Alamodome.

Politics

Leticia Van de Putte

State Senator, Fighter
Becoming the focus of national, even global, attention was quite literally the last thing State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte had on her mind when she rushed to the state Capitol on June 25. Earlier in the day, Van de Putte delivered the eulogy for her father, who was killed in a car accident—just a month and a half after her youngest grandson died suddenly. “I got there and had no emotional energy left,” she recalls.

Van de Putte says she felt compelled to go to Austin to support her colleague Wendy Davis’s efforts to filibuster Senate Bill 5, which put severe restrictions on abortion. After attempting unsuccessfully to be recognized to speak on the floor of the Legislature, Van de Putte uttered a sentence that has now been repeated to her in places as distant as Scotland. “At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room?” The instant reaction to her frustration was titanic; Van de Putte says the granite Capitol literally shook as thousands of the people who descended on the building roared their approval. Van de Putte realizes now that her comment struck a chord because it was an expression of female frustration about multiple issues. “It was about when are [men] going to pay attention to what we say and value us for what we’re worth?”

Still, despite what Van de Putte calls the “toxic” nature of the special legislative session, the senator expresses great fondness for colleagues on both sides of the aisle—many of whom provided much-needed support to her family during their trying times.

Joaquin and Julián Castro

Dem Party Stars
You can’t have a political it-list in San Antonio—or anywhere these days—without mention of the Castro brothers who, a year shy of 40, carry the hope of a blue Texas on their shoulders. Love them or hate them, these brothers have cache. Julián (the older one) is mayor of the nation’s seventh-largest city, a political hotshot with a rising national profile. Joaquin (the handsome one—he likes to tell people who confuse the identical twins) is a freshman congressman who’s a regular on the national talk show circuit and was selected to speak alongside other Democratic leaders, including President Barack Obama and former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, at an event honoring the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Their party buzzes with hope for bigger and better things—governor? Maybe, president?—from the Democratic twofer. Will they or won’t they? Strategists and pundits can’t help themselves. Only the Castros know and they aren’t saying. Eyes from both sides will have to keep watching.

Diego Bernal

Grassroots Politician
Is he for real? All signs point to yes. District 1 Councilman Diego Bernal redefines grassroots politics with an approach to constituent issues that is as revolutionary to some as it is face-palm common sense to others. The civil rights lawyer became popular with constituents for his effort to walk in their shoes—from riding public transit, to sitting for a monthly coffee with neighbors (his treat). Most recently, he set his sights on a controversial update to the city’s non-discrimination ordinance that adds protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as veteran status. The issue became highly divisive but passed in an 8-3 vote in early September.

Susan Pamerleau

New Sheriff in Town
Her campaign for sheriff raised eyebrows. Her victory made history. And now she promises to raise the bar. Sheriff Susan Pamerleau, the first woman elected to the position in Bexar County, had no law enforcement experience when she won the 2012 election. What she brought to the office was life experience that guides her philosophy. As sheriff, Pamerleau commands an army of 1,700 deputies, detention officers and civilian employees. In this, she has experience. She served in the U.S. Air Force for 32 years, and retired as a major general. She's approached her new office with executive focus, challenging precedent and shaking up convention.

Youth

Sebastien De La Cruz

El Charro de Oro
After wowing audiences with his mariachi skills on NBC’s America’s Got Talent in 2012, 11-year-old Sebastien De La Cruz returned to his hometown and dazzled crowds during the NBA Finals. Along with having the musical prowess of someone well beyond his 11 years, De La Cruz also showed the kind of wisdom and grace most adults could only hope to possess when strangers flooded Twitter with racist remarks following his performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” prior to Game 3. The little musician inspired his hometown when he responded via social media by thanking his supporters and saying to “not pay attention to the negative people. I am an American living the ‘American Dream.’ This is part of the American life.” Impressed by his character, the Spurs invited him back for an encore before Game 4 in which he was congratulated by the Spurs and Heat coaches. Mayor Julián Castro—who told the pre-teen, “You are a true talent and you represent the best of our nation’s future.”—introduced De La Cruz before the game. His performances didn’t stop there, either. He was invited in July to star as guest performer at New Mexico’s Mariachi Spectacular de Albuquerque. Whether he continues to wow as a mariachi musician or grows up to follow another dream, we feel certain De La Cruz’s future is bright.

Cosmo Albrecht

Debate Champ
Speaking on the lingering political effects of slavery in the U.S. isn’t an activity for which most high school students volunteer. But Cosmo Albrecht, 17, isn’t like most students. A senior in the International School of the Americas magnet program at Lee High School, Albrecht not only volunteers for such tasks as a competitor in the National Forensic League, but earlier this summer won third place giving a speech on just that topic at the National Speech & Debate tournament in Alabama. After graduating, Albrecht hopes to take his passion for current events and make an impact through political analysis or international affairs work. “It really dictates our lives,” he says.

Sarah Ellis

College Teen
When Sarah J. Ellis, 16, was born with a deformity, doctors said she would never perform at the level of other students her age. Ellis set out to prove them wrong, skipping the seventh and 12th grades despite being placed in special education classes as a child and enrolling at St. Mary’s University this fall with dreams of becoming a multimedia journalist.

Jose Muzquiz

The Anti-Hacker
A freshman at University of Texas at San Antonio, Jose Muzquiz, 18, spent his final years in high school developing techniques to prevent cyber threats and attacks. His skills, and those of his peers, helped the Holmes High CyberPatriot team place among the top 35 in the country in 2013. After Muzquiz graduates with a degree in infrastructure assurance, he might just be SA’s next great cyber defender.

Alexa Fisher

Poker Star
When Alexa Fisher, 10, started learning poker at age 3, her dad, Justin, thought it might help develop her math skills. Seven years later she not only excels in math, she’s also on a first-name basis with professional poker players and has beat out enough adults in local charity tournaments that she’s won and donated more than $800. She’s not eligible for the World Series of Poker until 2024, but she’s already making plans to be a top contender. And watch out for her sister Aria, 7, who’s eligible in 2027 and already following in her big sister’s footsteps.

Philanthropy

Jocelyn “Joci” Straus

A&E Superstar
To discover the fountain from which Jocelyn Straus’ Las Casas Foundation sprung, one must go back to its founding year: 1988. But to study the vast garden of arts and entertainment it sustains, one need merely look to last night, when the house lights dimmed at the Majestic and Empire theatres. With every note, every turn, every laugh under the stage lights, Straus’ seeds are sown. Twenty-five years since the foundation’s first steps, her efforts are immortalized. The complex was renamed the Joci Straus Performing Arts Center at a lavish May gala, in honor of Straus’ lifelong commitment to the theaters’ preservation and to performing arts in San Antonio. It is the heart of the city’s A&E beat. And she is its lifeline. “Both the Majestic and the Empire are historically significant, but that’s not what makes them important,” Straus says. “It’s the experiences they deliver that make them true works of art. Art is so important—we all need it in our lives. Go to the theater and enjoy a performance. You’ll come out of the theater without any cares.” The civic leader and philanthropic powerhouse (also proud mother to Republican House Speaker Joe Straus) created the Foundation for Cultural Arts, serves as chair emeritus for the Texas Medal of Arts Awards, and is also a tireless fundraiser for arts scholarships. This year, Las Casas awarded $85,500 to local students. “We want them to have the ability to pursue their dreams, whatever those may be,” she says.

Harvey Najim

Big Spender

Workers began laying the foundation for the new San Antonio Children’s Museum during the summer. Philanthropist Harvey Najim started long before, with a personal $2 million gift toward its construction. When Najim, the retired CEO of Sirius, writes a check, it’s no small note. “Ten or 20 grand doesn’t make as big a difference as a seven-figure gift,” he told us last October (“Men of the Year”). Since the year after its founding in 2006, the Harvey E. Najim Family Foundation and Najim have donated or pledged about $45 million to 162 children’s charities, including $3 million in July to the construction of The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.

Elisheva Nawrocik

Caregiver
When it debuts Oct. 2 at an event at Medlars Jewelry, the Michelle Kuri Foundation will honor the memory of its namesake, who suffered from severe cerebral palsy until 2008 when she died at age 37. It will also aim to support families who care for ailing loved ones, specifically those who are non-verbal and non-ambulatory. Its founder, Elisheva Placeres Nawrocik, Michelle’s mother, understands the needs firsthand. “My experience helped me define the three key support areas of the foundation,” she says. Financial help; education and resources for families and medical providers to better communicate with non-verbal patients and their caregivers; and emotional support are all key needs the foundation will address through a number of programs.

Daniel Edelen

(Young) Man of the Year
The monsters in Daniel Edelen’s closet were real: high-risk T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, diagnosed when he was just 7. He fought back—during three years and four months of chemotherapy, three surgeries, including one to remove a portion of his right lung, 21 spinal taps, 22 blood and platelet transfusions, 88 days in the hospital, and more than 55 IV treatments. It worked, and then some. Now 16, the Churchill High School student keeps fighting for others with the disease. His fundraising efforts earned a record-breaking $466,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and made him the organization’s top fundraiser in the country and 2013 National Man of the Year.

Elisheva Nawrocik

Caregiver
When it debuts Oct. 2 at an event at Medlars Jewelry, the Michelle Kuri Foundation will honor the memory of its namesake, who suffered from severe cerebral palsy until 2008 when she died at age 37. It will also aim to support families who care for ailing loved ones, specifically those who are non-verbal and non-ambulatory. Its founder, Elisheva Placeres Nawrocik, Michelle’s mother, understands the needs firsthand. “My experience helped me define the three key support areas of the foundation,” she says. Financial help; education and resources for families and medical providers to better communicate with non-verbal patients and their caregivers; and emotional support are all key needs the foundation will address through a number of programs.

Gordon Hartman

Special Needs Champion
The success of Morgan’s Wonderland made Gordon Hartman a household name for families with special needs children, wounded veterans and the communities who care for them. His latest philanthropic venture was a risk—investing in a local pro soccer team with a charity fundraising arm. The risk has now returned a reward. Soccer for a Cause and the San Antonio Scorpions this year are reporting a net profit to benefit Hartman’s Family Foundation. His efforts, which serve special needs communities in imaginative and enchanting ways, are changing the way the city sees and serves them as well.

Food & Drink

Steve Newman

Craft Beer Afficionado
Blink and you’ll miss it. Miss it and you’ll regret it. From the mind behind The Friendly Spot and Alamo Street Eat Bar, the Tuk Tuk Tap Room is Steve Newman’s latest collaboration to bring together partner Jody Newman and pal, chef David Gilbert, for a new adventure in daily bread and beer. Always beer. The soon-to-be-open Tap Room promises to stick to Newman’s winning formula: a casual, chef-driven menu and plenty of taps—60, and a beer garden out back. Tucked between two buildings along a fast-changing stretch of Broadway known as River North, the storefront is neighbor to Pearl and two new mixed-use complexes, the Mosaic and 1800 Broadway. “One of our goals is to be a real neighborhood place to hang. We love the growth in Government Hill and in the Pearl, and really want to be an everyday place where people can chill,” Jody Newman told us in May (“SAM Says”). The menu is an homage to Asian street food, the kind Gilbert found in his travels to Southeast Asia, where beer pairs with regional tastes and ingredients. The name plays off of the word for an auto-rickshaw, a small, affordable, urban transportation solution. The idea is another winner from this innovating trio that’s elevating casual fare—one savory bite, one cold gulp at a time.

Eugene Simor

Brewer, Beer Champion
This guy is always wearing beer goggles. We think that’s a good thing. Through them Alamo Beer Co. president Eugene Simor has seen the future. He revived the Alamo brew that disappeared during Prohibition through the creation of his Alamo Golden Ale. And, in December he plans to break ground on a brewery near the Hays Street Bridge. His initiative was approved unanimously by the City Council. Now, a small preservation-minded group is trying to halt further expansion. They’ve filed a lawsuit scheduled for trial this month that would stop the city from selling a plot of land to Simor for a future restaurant and retail component next to the brewery. Simor, who plans to open his brewery to the public in October 2014, says with the support of the city and neighborhood association, he’s pushing on.

Lisa Wong

Tex-Mex Goddess
Celebrated restaurateur Lisa Wong fought the law and lost in a controversial Southtown land deal in late 2012 but bounced back—quickly, with plans to expand her empire north. To the delight of Northsiders, Wong’s beloved Rosario’s is coming to San Pedro Avenue. The familiar concept is one of Wong’s winningest: classic Mexican adapted to Texas palates, served with a touch of funky-cool. Think Frida Kahlo holding a margarita. Pink walls. Retro-style furniture. It’s Wong’s Midas touch—turning dime-a-dozen ideas into salsa-dipped gold.

Quealy Watson

Chef, pop-up winner
Chef Quealy Watson stated the obvious when he named his weekend pop-up spot “Hot Joy.” Sunday and Monday nights in Southtown were indeed hotter and more joyous when Watson’s Asian operation took over The Monterey. “It’s great, divey Asian food presented in a nice way,” Hot Joy fan and fellow chef Tim Rattray, of The Granary, told us in April (“Where the Chefs Go”). The two-night collaboration with El Monty’s Chad Carey created a sensation among patient patrons who delighted in the news that Hot Joy has left its pop-up days behind for a full-time shift on South Alamo Street, opening in November. More good news for fans of this duo: Their open-late pizza joint, Barbaro, opened in late summer.

Steve McHugh

Chef, Carnivore
If what ails you is a hunger for slow-crafted, hands-on cooking, Chef Steve McHugh has Cured—a new addition to Pearl’s impressive culinary set, opening this fall. It’s been a little more than a year since McHugh left celebri-chef John Besh’s Lüke to open his own spot. Cured will focus on the art of house-made everything—from the cocktails at the bar to the pickles on the plate and the charcuterie selections. See McHugh’s beefy display of talent Nov. 2-3 at Pearl’s Meatopia food festival.

Arts & Culture

Michael J. Fresher

Performing Arts Guru
Michael J. Fresher has an exciting year ahead of him. With less than 12 months to the opening of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, its new CEO and president, who arrived in May, is already busy meeting with as many arts organizations, nonprofits, for-profits and city and civic leaders as possible.

Beating out more than 250 applicants in the Tobin’s national search, Fresher brings impressive experience to San Antonio. In his 17 years in live entertainment, he’s worked at some of the finest performing arts centers, including New York’s Madison Square Garden and the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Conn.

Fresher says he’s looking forward to helping promote SA’s thriving arts and culture community with one of the most technologically and acoustically advanced centers in North America. “Along with our chairman of the board, Bruce Bugg, and the rest of our very supportive board of directors, the Tobin Center staff is extremely excited to bring forth a world-class performance venue to the city of San Antonio as well as to the performing arts community,” he says. “It is our goal to be a convener for the arts community and to serve as a uniter and promoter for these groups to allow them to flourish and develop into vibrant cultural arts assets to the region.”

Right now, Fresher says he’s focused on “getting a better understanding of expectations.” His next priority is solving one of his most frequently asked questions: “Where will I park?” A national parking company has been called in to assist staff in resolving the issue, and Fresher is confident there will be plenty of space—and entertainment—when the center launches in 2014.

Sarah Castillo

Gallery Gal
Sarah Castillo is one busy creative. A graduate student in bicultural studies at UTSA, she’s also a member of a multimedia art installation collective known as Mas Rudas, and this year founded Lady Base Gallery, an “experimental initiative supporting the creative practices of practice-based research and cross disciplines.” The gallery exhibits works focusing on women and the LGBTQ community and Castillo invites artists to work within the space.

Arturo Infante Almeida

Curator, Artist
At the University of Texas at San Antonio, Arturo Infante Almeida is the art specialist—that’s literally his job title. A professional artist, Almeida oversees all aspects of art exhibitions and acquisitions for the university, including the Institute of Texan Cultures’ popular Texas Contemporary Artists Series. He also works hand in hand with UTSA President Ricardo Romo as an art consult.

Steven M. Karr

Western Art Expert
The long-anticipated Briscoe Western Art Museum is scheduled to open in October under the guidance of executive director Steven Karr, who joined the museum in November of 2011 after seven years as director and Ahmanson curator of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian at The Autry National Center in Los Angeles.

Alex and Annie Comminos

Creative Couple
The dynamic husband-and-wife team and former gallery owners of Comminos Studio and Gallery in Lonestar Arts District launched CARP in August. The Comminos Alternative Residency Program will foster the ceramic arts community with a live/work program. The first residents are University of Texas at San Antonio grads Eric Owen and Andrew Leo Stansbury.

Health

Alan Peterson

PTSD Researcher
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has long been considered a chronic illness. But Dr. Alan Peterson, a retired lieutenant colonel and chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine within the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio, says it doesn’t have to be that way.

After retiring from the Air Force in 2006, Peterson set out to do something about PTSD. From the Health Science Center, he established (and now serves as director for) the South Texas Research Organizational Network Guiding Studies on Trauma and Resilience (STRONG STAR). Initially funded in 2008 through a $35 million Department of Defense grant, STRONG STAR involves the collaboration of more than 125 investigators who are working to determine how PTSD, under various circumstances, can be treated to the point of remission.

Between additional grants received since 2008 and a $45 million award from the DOD and Department of Veterans Affairs in August, Peterson’s team has now been granted more than $100 million. The latest grant will include new studies conducted under a consortium called STRONG STAR-CAP (STRONG STAR Consortium to Alleviate PTSD). “Dr. Peterson is heading the most important initiative supported by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to come our way in a generation,” says Terence Keane, director of the Behavioral Science Division of the VA National Center for PTSD.

For Peterson, the goal is simple. "We're here for the troops," he says.

Larry Miller

Inventor, Life-saver
For Dr. Larry Miller, the former ER chairman for Baptist Health System, seeing patients die because their veins collapsed and they weren’t able to receive lifesaving fluids through an IV fast enough was simply unacceptable. So, he created a needle and drill system that would provide access to the uncollapsible veins that exist inside of bones. Years later, his company, Vidacare, is continuing to save lives through medical innovations. Their latest, a specially crafted system known as the TALON will enable military personnel to insert a needle into the sternum bone and deliver IV fluids to patients while still in the battlefield.

Jayne E. Pope

Health Care Hero
Jayne E. Pope took the reins as CEO at Hill Country Memorial—which was named a 100 Top Hospital by Truven Health Analytics for the second consecutive year—early this year but her leadership began long before. She served as Hill Country’s chief nursing officer for nearly two years and also led the way in nursing in Canada, in an Austin clinic system (where she led best practice efforts that resulted in Joint Commission Accreditation) and in Georgetown (where she established a clinical preceptorship program).

Sandy Morander

Fat Fighter
Cutting SA’s obesity rate hasn’t been an individual effort. But Sandy Morander, Mayor’s Fitness Council member and YMCA of Greater San Antonio CEO/president, has certainly been a driving force. Under her leadership since 2011, the Y has spearheaded Síclovía, offered free health services at the Y Living Center, managed the city’s fitcitysa.com resource site and, starting this month, will offer free diabetes prevention programs in partnership with the city’s Metropolitan Health District.

Suzy Monford

Natural Foodie
Bringing healthy options to San Antonians has been Suzy Monford’s mantra—both as a former exec at H-E-B and at EZ’s, where as CEO she nixed the use of trans fats, genetically modified food items and MSG. The Helotes native is now taking her passion for freshness to Australia, where she moved recently to work as an executive with grocery giant Woolworths.

This article appears in the October 2013 issue of San Antonio Magazine